Sixteen years ago the bishops of the various jurisdictions
of the Orthodox Churches in America
met in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, to map out the road to a
unified American Orthodox Church. Call it the “Ligonier Council” -- the First
Council of Orthodox Bishops in America.

The air was electric. Called by the two towering leaders of
Orthodoxy in America
-- Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Church (GOA) and Metropolitan
Philip of the Antiochian Church (AOCA) and courageously supported by
representatives of Romanian, Serbian and Bulgarian jurisdictions. The bishops resolved to tackle head-on the
vexing problems of Orthodox jurisdictional disunity in America. The
Church in America
had turned a corner.

It was not to last. The news upset many of the Old World patriarchates. Perhaps they saw the attempt at
unity as moving too fast. Or maybe they didn't understand the American “can-do”
spirit and our native impatience with progress that moves too slowly.

Reaction against Ligonier was swift and the Ecumenical
Patriarch took the lead in reversing it. The message was unequivocal: There
will be no independent and autocephalous American Orthodox Church.

Since then, however, much has changed. Constantinople,
once the sole and prominent voice of global Orthodoxy now competes with the
resurgent Orthodox Churches in lands formerly under Communist oppression. The
rebirth of these Churches is remarkable and they are quickly occupying their
places of prominence in global Orthodoxy that they held before the oppression.

Their influence is growing. They understood that this
disunity was not only in stark opposition to Orthodox Tradition, but also could
prove fatal to Orthodoxy’s growth in America and other lands. In June
2009, they met in Chambesy, Switzerland, near Geneva,
to map a strategy that would resolve this primarily New
World problem. They scheduled Episcopal Assemblies that would
bring the bishops of every jurisdiction together to chart the way toward unity.
The Episcopal Assembly in the United States
begins May 26 in New York City.

In 1994, it looked like the Ligonier Council had derailed.
Archbishop Iakovos of blessed memory died believing he had failed. Sixteen
years later, it looks like the train of Orthodox unity may have left the
station after all. Ligonier is the benchmark, the bar, the high water mark of
American Orthodox cooperation. It gave Orthodox Christians in America the
goal to which we must aspire and the protocols to guide us along the way.

The Episcopal Assembly offers only three possible outcomes:

1.The American Orthodox
Church moves toward the unity started at Ligonier;

2.The status quo
remains;

3.The administration of
an American Orthodox Church is handed over to Old World
patriarchs.

Of the three, unity of the American Orthodox Church is the
best option because it establishes a local autocephalousChurch,
in accord with ancient Orthodox practice.

If forced to choose between maintaining the status quo or
administration by an Old World Patriarchate,
however, choosing the status quo is clearly the better choice. That’s
because the pressure to align the AmericanChurch to the interests of foreign
states would be too great a temptation for the Old World
patriarchates to resist, many of whom are already subject to the dictates of
foreign governments. Given the dynamics of American culture, domination by any
foreign Patriarch would cause conflict in the Church and may eventually reduce
it to a historical or ethnic oddity.

Unifying the Orthodox Church in America, on the other hand, will
unleash its nascent creativity and dynamism so that the Gospel commission can
be fulfilled. New ministries that cut across jurisdictional lines are already
flourishing (Ancient Faith Radio, FOCUS, IOCC, and others). What future could these organizations
possibly have under the influence of a Patriarchate in service to foreign interests?

Our bishops, priests, and laity must stand strong -- but
especially so for our bishops. Are they up to the challenge? Can they renew the
vision that was so clear at Ligonier sixteen years ago?

It is time to finish what began at Ligonier!

About St. Andrew House: The Center for Orthodox Christian
Studies - St. Andrew House is an independent Pan Orthodox institution located
in DetroitMichigan.
The mission of the Center for Orthodox Christian Studies is to promote
the Orthodox Christian faith by word and example, through formal instruction,
worship and good works. The Center
exists to serve the Orthodox clergy and faithful of the metro Detroit area, and to be a symbol of the unity
of the faith.